Payman's having a party, but we've seen it all before

Fatima Payman has her own political party which, she says, will be for those voters who feel “left behind” by the duopoly of the major parties in the Australian political system.

That’s an interesting take seeing that it was that two-party system that got her elected to the Senate in the first place, as a Labor senator for Western Australia.

She wouldn’t have been elected without such party support.

Senator Payman was number three on Labor’s Senate ticket in WA for the 2022 federal election and got up because the ALP won a landslide in that state.

She wouldn’t have been elected at all if she had contested the election as an independent candidate.

Without her preselection by the ALP, hardly anyone would know her name today.

Yet she used the system to get where she wanted to be and then dumped the party that got her there – knowing full well that (double dissolution aside), she’s got a few years left to sit on those comfortable crossbench seats without having to answer to any party hierarchy.

The exit clause of conscience (which is not actually there) is what she used to cast aside the party that brought her – as a member of the Federal Government no less – to the corridors of power in Canberra.

Seems she wasn’t one for party rules.

Her own new party has already been registered with the Australian Electoral Commission under the name of Australia’s Voice.

That choice of name has already seen a few eyebrows raised over its likeness to the Voice to Parliament, with questions being asked if the now independent WA Senator is trying to capitalise on sentiment favourable to First Nations people.

But no, she says. She has consulted widely with the First Nations people and besides: “The word voice isn’t trade-marked”.

Australia’s Voice will offer a refreshing new approach to politics, she assures, and one that is attracting “so much support already”.

We don’t know what the party stands for yet or who might be endorsed to run for it. No policies or running mate have been announced.

But it promises to stand candidates in both the House of Representatives and the Senate – maybe even in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s own seat (we can feel him quaking already).

And we know this too.

“This is more than a party. It is a movement for a fairer, more inclusive Australia,” Senator Payman said when launching her new party.

“Together we will hold our leaders accountable and ensure that your voice, Australia’s voice, will never be silenced.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is.

It rings a bell because similar lines have been used before by former prime ministers from both sides, and those sentiments are pretty much always expressed by mavericks promising the world.

In fact, when it comes to Senator Payman and Australia’s Voice, there’s nothing much new about it.

The creation of this fledgling party emerges from an unknown who successfully exploited the system and then allowed their own ego to believe the nation is behind them.

Those gullible enough to seek to run as candidates in this new party will come to learn that its whole existence is about serving the purposes of one person.

We’ve seen it all play out before, with Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer.

Their parties endorse and disendorse with regularity because members fall out with the founders – and the founders are what it’s all about.

Even the Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie has had trouble keeping her network united and cohesive.

And Fatima Payman is no Jacqui Lambie – not even close.

But at least she didn’t name the party after herself like the others have done.

That would indicate an ego out of control – wouldn’t it?